Charitable Contribution Rules: 10 Years in the Making Ten years ago, the Internal Revenue Service proposed regulations that would define how to value (and prove the actual value) of non-cash donations to charity. The regs involved things like artwork, jewelry and other possessions whose value is often in the eye of the beholder. Now, a […]
The Secret Recipe for Laziness For many people, laziness is not a virtue; it is something that has to be overcome with daily habits and willpower. But what about the driven Type A personality who has been told by his/her doctor that the current lifestyle will almost certainly lead to a premature death? How can […]
Crypto-Crash Chances are, if you remember the dot-com crash, it is not fondly. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell a total of 78% peak-to-trough, as companies like Pets.com cratered into oblivion. Today’s cryptocurrency investors are experiencing similar pain, and there’s no clear end in sight. Bitcoin is down 55% this year, and the decline is now […]
Last Call for HARP One of the most beneficial consumer rescue programs from the Great Recession era is about to expire. The Home Affordability Refinance Program—known as HARP—was passed by a bipartisan Congress in 2009, to enable borrowers who were under water on their homes, or close to under water, to refinance into more affordable […]
DB Plan for All Few people have a defined benefit pension plan any more, thanks to the popularity of the 401(k). But the DB concept is simpler: a corporate annuity that pays out retirement income every year based on the amount contributed to the plan over the years. Yes, you can buy annuities on the […]
States vs. SALT Each year, thousands of professionals use their creativity and ingenuity to try to figure out the best ways to lower your federal taxes. You know you’re living in interesting times when state lawmakers join that crowd. The reason they’re working so hard is something popularly known as the SALT provisions of the […]
Reclaiming Charitable Deductions You may remember that when the new tax law was debated, there was a lot of chatter around the possibility that Congress would totally eliminate the deduction for charitable contributions. That Republican-backed proposal never made it into the final Tax Cuts + Jobs Act, but in other ways the tax changes may […]
More Good Job Numbers By now, we should be pretty well accustomed to getting good news from the employment reports issued every month by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The latest report, released last Friday, announced (yawn) the 92nd consecutive month of positive job creation in the American economy—seven and two-thirds years of steadily falling […]
Tax Simplification That Really Is One of the the biggest misnomers coming out of Washington is the idea of “tax simplification,” where Congress purportedly makes it easier for all of us to fill out our tax returns by adding several thousand pages of new rules, rates and lists of things we can and cannot deduct […]
Defaults Down the Road When it comes to municipal finances, we may have entered the calm before the storm. You can go to the MuniNet Guide, which describes itself as the “hub for state, local and municipal research,” and find detailed historical statistics on the bankruptcies of small municipal utilities and special purpose districts, cities, […]
